Obama asks for patience in convention speech

Friday

Sep 7, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 7, 2012 at 10:30 AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Amid a deafening din last night, President Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination, telling Americans he needs four more years to repair the economy while positing the election as "a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amid a deafening din last night, President Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination, telling Americans he needs four more years to repair the economy while positing the election as “a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.”

Alternately somber in his appraisal of what he inherited, businesslike in how he handled problems and optimistic about the future, Obama warned in his speech that Republican rival Mitt Romney would embrace the same policies that led the nation to a near-depression.

“When all is said and done — when you pick up that ballot to vote — you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation,” Obama said. “Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace — decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.

“On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America.”

Obama’s speech culminated a well-scripted convention that was remarkable for its message discipline, with speaker after speaker exhorting voters to stay the course, to give the president more time to dig the country out of the mess he had inherited, and to trust the economic recovery he had put in motion.

That message — along with a warning that Romney would pursue policies favoring the wealthy, banks and corporations — was espoused again last night by Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee.

Biden credited Obama with saving more than 1 million jobs with a controversial $87?billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

“Mitt Romney grew up in Detroit,” Biden said. “His father ran American Motors. Yet he was willing to let Detroit go bankrupt. … I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way — balance sheets, write-offs.”

Kerry called Romney an “extreme and expedient candidate who lacks the judgment and vision so vital in the Oval Office.” He said Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, are “ the most inexperienced foreign policy twosome to run for president and vice president in a decade."

Facetiously turning around a question Romney often poses, Kerry said, “Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off than he was four years ago.”

Reacting to the speech, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said Obama made “the case for more of the same policies that haven’t worked for the past four years. He offered more promises, but he hasn’t kept the promises he made four years ago. Americans will hold President Obama accountable for his record — they know they’re not better off and that it’s time to change direction.”

The bar was high for the president’s presentation, set a night earlier by former President Bill Clinton, whose oratory gave pause about whether Obama could make as good a case for himself as Clinton had done.

Obama recited measures he took to stabilize the economy, including the auto bail-out: “I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d never build another American car. Today, they can’t build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on top of the world.”

And the president said he had made the nation safer by killing bin Laden and degrading the potency of al-Qaida, while ending the war in Iraq and drawing down troops in Afghanistan.

“While my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want, I’ll use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work — rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways. After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here at home.

Obama delivered his speech at the Time Warner Cable Arena after the threat of thunderstorms caused organizers to move the venue from the outdoor stadium where the NFL’s Carolina Panthers play. The arena pulsated with excitement, conjuring the days in Denver four years ago when an audience of 84,000 propelled an untested young senator.

But the hopeful expectations for change from that time soon ran headlong into the reality of governing, and Obama took the dais last night scarred and humbled after struggling in the hyper-partisan tide of Washington.

Attempting to rekindle the spirit of hope and optimism, Obama summoned Americans to rally around a set of goals on manufacturing, energy, education, national security and the deficit “to rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation.”

“I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy,” Obama said. “I never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one.

“But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future.”

jhallett@dispatch.com

jtorry@dispatch.com

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.